A FedEx tractor-trailer truck was already in flames when it crossed a median and slammed into a bus carrying students in Northern California, witnesses say.

The truck clipped a car occupied by a couple before it slammed into the bus on Thursday evening, killing 10 people - five high school students, three chaperones and the drivers of both vehicles.

More than 30 people, mostly teenagers, were taken to local hospitals.

Bonnie Duran CNN affiliate KOVR she was driving with her husband made a quick decision to swerve and avoid a direct hit from the truck.

Their rental car was clipped and sent them hurtling into a ditch, just moments before the truck hit the bus head-on

'Somehow we survived,' she said.

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A fireball engulfs a truck and a bus carrying high school students following a head-on collision in California. Witnesses to the crash are saying the FedEx truck was already on fire when it crossed over the median strip and collided with the coach

Tragic: Ten were killed and dozens more hospitalized following the crash in Orland, California

Lucky: Bonnie Duran and her husband Joe were travelling in a rental car in front of the bus when Bonnie managed to swerve out of the path of the FedEx truck

A CBS News animation shows close the car being driven by Bonnie and Joe Duran (right) came to colliding with the trailor-truck. Bonnie said the truck was on fire before the crash

Mrs Duran told the network she is sure the truck was on fire as it crossed the median strip toward them.

The crash occurred on Interstate 5 in Orland, which cuts through the heart of California's farming country about 90 miles north of Sacramento.

The students were traveling in three buses from the Los Angeles area to take part in a program at Humboldt State University - which allows prospective attendees to visit the campus - and represented 21 southern California high schools.

The two other buses in the caravan made it to the university.

Among those killed were an LA man and the woman he proposed to in December.

A 17-year-old twin was also among the confirmed dead, while her twin sister was in one of the other buses,NBC Los Angeles reported.

Another student, Adrian Castro, 18, has also been identified among those that perished.

He was a senior at El Monte High School who played on the school's fottball team

Michael Myvett, 29, and his fiancee Mattison Haywood were serving as chaperones on the bus.

Marisa Serrato, 17, was also confirmed among the dead.

Her twin, Marisol Serrato, was on a different bus that wasn't involved in the crash and made it safely to the school on Friday.

Loss: Michael Myvett and his fiancee, Mattison Haywood, who were recently engaged in Paris, were killed on the bus

Tragic: Twin sisters Marisol Serrato, 17, left, and Marisa Serrato, right, with sister-in-law Ivette Serrato. Marisa was one of the twins on the bus that crashed and died. Marisol was on another bus that wasn't in the accident

El Monte High School senior Adrian Castro, a football player, has been identified as one of the 10 people who died in the horrific crash

Marisol was accepted to Humboldt State
University, while Marisa was waitlisted there. The two Norte Vista High
School seniors decided to check out the campus.

'My
sisters are real religious, smart, A students,' Miguel Serrato said.
'They were going to get their high school diploma; they were looking
toward the future.'

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Myvett had given Haywood her engagement ring outside the Louvre art museum in Paris on Christmas Day, said his employers at the Center for Autism and Other Disorders in Torrance.

He had provided therapy for autistic children for the last two years.

Myvett (right) gave Haywood (left) her engagement ring in Paris on Christmas Day

He was 'able to connect with our kids on a level few others could, and he contributed to their wellbeing in such a positive and profound way,' the center's operations manager Kyle Farris said in a statement.

'Adrian Castro will be missed as a student and football player,' El Monte football coach Joel Sanchez told the Press-Telegram. 'He was a good young man with a bright future. He will always be remembered by the El Monte family.'

Although Castro was not a star football player, Raul Castro said his son always pushed himself.

'He was stubborn,' Mr. Castro said. 'When he wanted to do something, he applied himself until he finished it.'

Grieving: A memorial message for the victims is put up at Orland High School

Workers clear the charred remains of a charter bus that collided with a FedEx tractor trailer on Interstate 5 in Orland, Calif. on Thursday, April 10. Ten people were killed in the crash and dozens more were injured

In Humboldt, Marisol had been trying to find her sister, calling around to hospitals for information, Serrato said.

'She
says she believes that it's her fault because it was her idea to go
check out that university,' Serrato said. 'She's devastated right now. I
told her to keep her head up and have faith in God.'

A third chaperone killed in the crash,
Humboldt State recruiter Arthur Arzola, was identified earlier Friday.
The drivers of the bus and tractor-trailer and seven other students also died,
but their names have not been released.

Arthur Arzola, 26, a recruiter for Humboldt State University, died in the fiery collision of a tour bus and FedEx truck